The Dimond Branch Library will temporarily close for remodeling from Friday, December 23 to May 2017. For more information see the announcement.

All library locations will be closed from Friday, December 23rd through Monday, December 26th for the Christmas holiday. We will reopen on Tuesday, December 27th.

Coming in September: Five Hit Novels and Five More to Look Out For

Place your holds now for these upcoming hits:

The Bay Area’s own Michael Chabon has a new book out in September, and his Oakland fans will be especially interested in the local focus. It’s called Telegraph Avenue, and features two down-and-out record store owners battling the encroachment of an entertainment megastore. You can get a preview from NPR here.

Pulitzer prizewinner Junot Díaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) and Orange Prize winner Zadie Smith (White Teeth) also have new books out next month that are sure to garner lots of attention.

In September we’ll also see a new novel from Lee Child, the seventeenth thrilling novel featuring the mysterious drifter Jack Reacher. If you’ve never heard of this award winning and extremely popular series, you will soon: Tom Cruise will play Reacher in a feature film this December.

Readers are already placing holds for The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults coming out in a few weeks. Just don’t expect wizards or magic!

Keep in mind that as the hold lists grow longer, we'll order more copies.

Now for a few books you might not hear so much about but are definitely worth checking out:

Attica Locke’s second mystery, The Cutting Season, takes place in post-Katrina Louisiana where a murder investigation exposes new evidence in a crime against a former slave more than a century earlier. Her first novel, Black Water Rising, was a nominee for a fistful of awards including the Orange Prize, the Edgar Award, the NAACP Image Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award.

Victor LaValle also has a number of awards under his belt, plus a new novel, The Devil in Silver, which is being described as a cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and a Stephen King tale (Library Journal). If that isn’t enough comparisons for you, his work has been likened to the writing of Ralph Ellison and Thomas Pynchon (Wall Street Journal).

Tatjana Soli is receiving praise for her follow-up to 2010 debut The Lotus Eaters, which was a New York Times bestseller and James Tait Black prize winner. Her new novel, The Forgetting Tree, is a tale of grief and struggle on a citrus farm in Southern California.

Two of September’s most well-reviewed debut novels tell Iraq War stories. Fobbit, by David Abrams, is a satire of the Iraq War that “nails the comedy and the pathos, the boredom and the dread, crafting the Iraq War's answer to Catch-22” (Publishers Weekly). In The Yellow Birds, debut author Kevin Powers “writes with a rawness that brings the sights and smells as well as the trauma and decay of war home to the reader” (Kirkus).

Are you looking forward to an upcoming new release? Tell us about it!

Telegraph AvenueBy Michael ChabonWhen ex-NFL quarterback Gibson Goode, the fifth richest black man in America, decides to open his newest Dogpile megastore on Telegraph Avenue, Nat and Archy, the owners of Brokeland Records, fear for their business until Gibson's endeavor exposes a decades-old secret history.

This is How You Lose HerBy Junot DíazPresents a collection of stories that explores the heartbreak and radiance of love as it is shaped by passion, betrayal, and the echoes of intimacy.

NWby Zadie SmithGrowing up in the same 1970s urban planning development in Northwest London, four young people pursue independent and reasonably successful lives until one of them is abruptly drawn out of her isolation by a stranger who is seeking her help.

A Wanted Man: A Reacher NovelBy Lee ChildHitching a ride to Virginia in a car with three strangers, Jack Reacher finds himself unwittingly involved in a massive conspiracy that makes him a threat.

The Casual VacancyBy J.K. RowlingA long-anticipated first adult novel by the award-winning author of the Harry Potter series follows the early death of a small town councilman whose demise reveals deep-rooted conflicts in his seemingly idyllic community, which rapidly deteriorates in the face of cultural disputes, generation clashes and a volatile election.

The Cutting SeasonBy Attica LockeWhen the dead body of a young woman is found on the grounds of Belle Vie, the estate's manager, Caren Gray, launches her own investigation into Belle Vie's history, which leads her to a centuries old mystery involving the plantation's slave quarters--and her own past.

The Devil in SilverBy Victor LaValleLanding in a budget-strapped mental institution after being accused of a crime he does not remember, Pepper is assaulted by a monstrous creature that has been attacking patients but that the hospital staff does not believe exists.

The Forgetting TreeBy Tatjana SoliAbandoning the world of her literary education to move to her husband's California citrus ranch, Claire Nagy forges an all-consuming bond with her family's land that eventually supersedes her relationships with her husband and children.

FobbitBy David AdamsAt Foreward Operating Base Triumph, a combat-avoiding staff sergeant named Chance Gooding spends his time composing press releases that spin grim events into statements more palatable to the public.

The Yellow BirdsBy Kevin PowersIn the midst of a bloody battle in the Iraq War, two soldiers, bound together since basic training, do everything to protect each other from both outside enemies and the internal struggles that come from constant danger.

Comments

Thanks for the suggestion; I hadn’t heard about this book. The Book of Mormon Girl has been called an "enchanting memoir" by Publishers Weekly and a "well-crafted examination of spiritual longing" by Kirkus Reviews.